


Penny For Your Thoughts

by xLion_Heartx



Series: RWBY AUs and Such [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Don't know if anyone else ships Ren/Penny, Dunno if anybody even thought of that as a ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Multi, Ships that I ship even if nbody else does, Swearing - rarely
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2018-09-22 06:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9587144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLion_Heartx/pseuds/xLion_Heartx
Summary: AU!Young faunus Penny Polendina and her quiet best friend Lie Ren embark on an exciting adventure of Hunters and Huntresses starting at Haven Academy with their team and a suspicious black market group.





	1. Welcome to Haven Academy

**Author's Note:**

> I do adore the Renora ship - OTP - A* I promise. So, don't fret, despite the fact that it is not a ship in this story and I have paired the two off with different people, I will make sure they have fluffy friendship moments when they meet for the first time (because let's be honest, they have to).

In one of the many airships headed for Haven Academy, two young teenagers stood and sat, watching the world slowly pass by and the beautiful school grow ever closer.

Lie Ren sat in one of two chairs by a large window on the ship. He had long black hair tied into a ponytail that ended midway down his back. There was a magenta streak on the left side of his hair and his eyes matched said streak. He wore a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that was red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming went down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar, he also had on a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit, and light-tan pants with black shoes.

Penny Polendina stood by the window with her nose lightly pressed against the glass. She had short, rather curly orange hair that came down to her chin, and she wore a pink bow on the back of her head, and she also had bright green eyes, light skin and freckles. She wore an old-fashioned blouse with short feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings and wore a small and thin backpack. Most prominently, she had a bushy, orange squirrel tail reaching up to the bottom of her neck and twitching in excitement.

The magnificent Academy towered over them as the airship landed and every student filtered off. Penny all but dragged Ren outside and gasped in amazement at seeing the school with her own eyes and not through a window in the sky.

A mass of kids ran past them towards the main structure, seemingly knowing where they were heading. Ren didn't feel like following them yet, and didn't even know if they were going the right way in the first place.  

"Neo, take it easy, I get you're excited but chill out. You're gonna take my arm off!" A male voice exclaimed from somewhere behind the pair.

Ren turned first, greeted with the sight of two people their age (well obviously, they were students too). One was a girl with a curious appearance, clinging - and pulling - on her male companion's left arm, attempting to drag him in the direction the majority of other students went.

Said girl was rather short, definitely under 5" even with the heels she wore. She had half pink and half brown hair, with white streaks on the pink side, and the same sort of style with her eyes. She was wearing an interesting outfit, it being composed of a white jacket with a pink interior, brown trousers, and black and white boots with very high heels. Under her jacket was a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips, and she also had a multitude of necklaces, which hung haphazardly around her neck and a fancy umbrella/parasol was hooked onto her trousers and rested against her right leg.

The boy with her was almost double her height and appeared quite above average for his age. He had slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, orange hair, with long bangs that would have covered his right eye had there not been a little pink hair clip keeping the hair back behind his ear. He wore a simple black t-shirt with the same coloured jeans, sneakers, and finger-less, leather gloves. In a similar way to the girl, he had a pair of white and red pistols sat in brown holsters on the outside of each thigh.

Penny had noticed the two by the time Ren finished observing them, she smiled at the sight of them and skipped over to them happily.

"Salu-tations!" She greeted, waving as she startled the two.

"Hello..?" The boy replied.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Penny, you might be scaring them," Ren chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her ecstatic behaviour.

"Oh, sorry.." the redhead apologised, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

The triple-coloured girl smiled, pulling out her scroll and typing something on it before showing the two in front of her, _It's okay! I like enthusiasm, roman here can be a grump sometimes._

"Hey! I am **not** grumpy," 'Roman' protested, folding his arms with a short huff, "anyway, yeah, uh.. hi. I'm Roman Torchwick and this is Neopolitan - she likes Neo though."

"My name is Lie Ren, this is Penny Polendina - you can call me Ren, by the way," Ren replied.

"It's pleasure to meet you!" Penny added, bouncing on the balls of her feet with her tail twitching happily.

"You.. uh.. already said that," Roman pointed out, rubbing the back of his neck.

Penny paused, taking a moment to think before beaming up at her fellow redhead, "so I did!"

"Anyway," Ren butted in, allowing his companion to chat excitedly with Neo - who apparently lacked the ability to talk. "Do you have any idea where we're supposed to be going? We got to the airship a little later than we were meant to so we missed the introduction."

Roman chuckled, "I heard a few people did, something about wrong departure times given or something. Don't worry about it, we gotta head to the main hall to meet our 'Year Head' or whatever, and then we'll be taken to - what they called - the ballroom to set up sleeping before initiation tomorrow."

"That's quite organised isn't it," Penny said, turning to look at the two boys.

From next to her, Neo pulled a map up on her scroll and typed out _We need to head towards the west side of the main building to find the hall, the meeting shouldn't start for at least twenty more minutes so we have time to find our way._

* * *

Out of the twenty minutes the quarter had, they wasted fifteen of them peering through door windows to find the room they were looking for - Neo's map apparently not being very clear or easy to follow. Some rooms had classes of second or third years diligently studying and somehow ignoring the noise each of the first years made as they passed or stared in.

They finally found the main hall with about a minute to spare and mingled in with the colourful crowd of students. There was a stage (probably used for meetings, displays, etc.) on the far wall where a woman stood.

Said woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties, had copper hair tied in a carousel braid, and coral eyes. She wore a pewter shirt dress with a thin caramel belt, silver kitten heels and in her left hand was an intricately designed, golden staff with lilac crystals embedded in the top and bottom of it.

"Welcome," she greeted, her voice like honey as it filled the room, "My name is Professor Pearl, I am the head of this year and will continue to be for your time here at Haven. You have been accepted into one of the top Huntsmen academies in all of Remnant. This mean that we will expect a lot of skill coming from you.  **I** will be expecting a lot of skill coming from you, and as your Year Head, I will be in charge of any and all incidents caused by you, so I suggest you behave."

"Bossy one she is, huh?" Roman whispered to Penny - who was between him and Ren - making her giggle quietly and causing Ren and Neo to roll their eyes playfully.

 _She's doing her job and making an impression in the process. I'm sure she's much friendlier if you're a good student._ Neo typed out.

"Always the optimist, aren't you?"

Professor Pearl continued to describe - in detail - each of the rules surrounding them in their first year. She even told them of the opportunity some of them would be able to take when the Vytal Festival came along in a little over 9 months away.

"Now, your luggage and other items have been taken off of the airships and dropped off in the ballroom for you to set up for this evening. There are two bathrooms for you to the left and right of the ballroom and sleeping bags have been provided for each of you. Good night," and with a nod, she sauntered off the stage and out of the room, not before hanging a map by the door to direct each of the students to the ballroom.

* * *

Evening came faster than anyone expected. The ballroom was filled with each student who had changed into their sleepwear and chosen a place to sleep with any of their friends (and/or new friends).

Ren and Penny had found a place by a window and reserved it whilst Roman and Neo went to change. They sat in a comfortable silence, Penny laying out the blankets and pillows they brought on each of their claimed sleeping bags as Ren sorted out each of their pyjamas for when the other two got back.

"Sun, give that back!" An accented male whined from somewhere to the left of their set-up.

"Nu-uh, you owe me 20 lien for being right about Neptune's fear," another male replied, laughing giddily.

"You met him on the airship, that's an unfair advantage," the other protested.

"Hey, a faunus boy," Penny whispered, crawling over to sit next to Ren and watch the exchange going on a sleeping bag or two away from them.

The boy with the accent had red hair that came down over his right eye with a complete undercut, there were several red markings around his left eye. He had a white t-shirt on as well as black sweatpants and was reaching for a pair of green, feather earrings which the faunus boy held in the air.

The other male had short, spiky blond hair, blue eyes, and sat with only a pair of blue sweatpants on. He also had a very prominent monkey tail swishing behind him.

The red haired boy noticed them staring and paused his argument to stare back, "uh.. Sun, I think we got some attention."

"What are you- Oh," 'Sun' turned around, handing the redhead his earrings back and grinning as he looked at the two, "Well, lookie here, we got ourselves a faunus!"

"Uh... Salu-tations!" Penny smiled back with a small wave, "my name's Penny, this is Ren."

"Hi, I'm Sun, this is Scarlet."

"And apparently we met the other half of your new friends when we went to change, which you two can do now," Roman said, appearing with Neo and two other boys.

"Hey, Neptune, Sage. Made some new friends?" Scarlet greeted.

"Yeah," the blue haired one of the two new comers nodded, "Roman and Neo."

Ren stood up from his place on the floor and pulled Penny up as well, they picked up their change of clothes and left the others to get to know each other for a bit.

"Well, that's become a bit hectic, hasn't it?" Penny giggled, stepping around already sleeping students to get out of the room.

"I suppose it will be until we're used to being around so many people," Ren nodded, giving her a simple side hug before they split off to change in the separate bathrooms.

Since he had gotten in there rather late into the evening, the bathroom didn't have many boys left in it. There were a few; either staring in the mirrors or - for some reason - sitting on the floor playing cards under the brightest light. Nobody paid Ren any mind as he passed them and locked himself in one of the stalls to change.

So far, the arrival at Haven had resulted in meeting six new people; each of them seemed to be quite friendly people too - although, he hadn't been able to properly talk to Sage and Neptune but Neo and Roman liked them.

If he said he wasn't anxious about initiation, Ren would be lying. He was terrified. Terrified of failing, terrified of ending up on a team of utter strangers (from what he'd read, all Huntsman Academies formed teams with their students) and just terrified of making an awful impression on whomever he ended up with.

He inhaled slowly to calm his racing thoughts, folded his clothes, and left the bathroom, wearing pyjamas consisting of a sleeveless green top and black sweatpants (because apparently most guys slept in sweatpants). He made his way back towards the ballroom to find Penny standing there waiting for him, having changed into a black camisole and green, three-quarter leggings.

"You took your time," she yawned, covering her mouth with the arm that wasn't holding her clothes.

"Sorry, you tired?" He asked, leading the sleepy girl back through the ballroom to where they'd set up.

"Uh huh," Penny nodded, biting back a small giggle at the state their new... friends I suppose they could call them now, were in.

Sun's little group had moved closer to their set up and was snoring away, draped over both his and Neptune's sleeping bags - Neptune himself already curled up in his. Scarlet's head was resting against Sun's legs whilst Sage slept away from the chaos of the others in his own sleeping bag. As for Roman and Neo, they were huddled together in both of their sleeping bags, sharing warmth that reminded both Ren and Penny of each other.

The pair settled into their own sleeping bags, Penny worming her way over to be able to feel Ren's body heat as a mental way of feeling safe.

"Night Ren," She whispered.

"Good night, Penny," he replied.


	2. Let's Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm basing the initiation on Beacon's but changing it to fit the geographical location of Haven and Mistral (based on the WoR video's visuals and the slight look we got in the V4 Finale). And obviously, this is just the start of it. I feel like most of the academy initiations would be the same because it is somewhat a test of strength/survival to see which students are ready for their time training, so I decided to go with an altered Beacon initiation.

Penny woke up just as the sun was peaking over the horizon. Most - if not all - of the other first years were still snoring away under their blankets. She felt a distinct lack of warmth which indicated to her that Ren was already awake; he often did wake up far earlier than she did. She rolled over with a tiny, tired groan and saw Neo sat up against the wall, flicking through a book absentmindedly whilst one of her hands ran through Roman's orange locks as his head rested in her lap. As for Sun and his friends, they all seemed far more tangled up than they were when she saw them the night before: Sun was still on Neptune, but the blue haired boy had somehow gotten one of his legs out of his sleeping bag and it was placed dangerously close to where Scarlet's head had ended up - so close that even a switch could kick the red haired boy right in the eye. Sage had somehow rolled even further away from the wrapped up mess, as if his brain could sense the ruckus the trio must have created in the night.

Penny sat up and stretched, rubbing her eyes lightly before looking back to Neo who had watched her movements. "What ya reading?" She questioned tiredly, much less peppy when just waking up.

_It's a neat book, you might like it. It's about a man with two souls, both fighting for control over his body._ The scroll said, it sat between the two girls as Neo continued to read and Penny shifted into a better position and began folding up hers and Ren's blankets to put back into their luggage. _Ren and I got up about a half hour ago, he went to get changed and I think he said something about getting some fresh air before he comes back to wake the rest of us up._

"Yeah, he does that. likes getting up before the crowd," Penny mumbled, picking up her bow from the pile of clothes at the end of her sleeping area and putting it on. "We should probably go and change when he gets back so we don't have to deal with shirtless guys this early in the morning, nor do we have to deal with girls hogging the mirrors."

This sprung a silent giggle from Neo, who put her book back in her luggage and gently poked Roman's cheek to stir him awake enough for him to roll off of the small girl's lap so she could stand and stretch her legs. Penny noticed that when the girl didn't wear her heels, she was practically half the height of the redhead.

Penny pushed herself to stand and the two girls grabbed their combat clothes. They stepped over a couple of sleeping boys and made their way to leave the ballroom, running into Ren who was tying his hair on one of the one-off benches strewn around the place.

"Ren, good morning! Neo and I are just headed to the bathrooms to change, Roman is slightly awake, it shouldn't take too much to get him up and make him get ready. Same for Sun, Sage, Scarlet and Neptune - except they might need a bit of a kick," Penny giggled, watching him finish his ponytail and pick up his pyjamas.

"Got it, I'll do my best to get them up. I'll pack our things too," Ren replied with a nod.

"Stuff's folded," Penny smiled, waving at him as they passed.

The girls continued forward, Penny chatting about mundane topics that she somehow made sound somewhat interesting whilst Neo smiled softly and listened with minimal replies on her scroll so as not to stop the redhead's train of thought.

There was only a single other girl in the bathroom when they entered, she scoffed when they walked past her, averting their eyes with slight awkwardness as she continued to observe herself in the large mirror next to the stalls.

The girl had almond skin, silver hair tied up in curly space buns, and chocolate eyes. She wore a charcoal bustier with light grey harem trousers and cream gladiator sandals, she also had a large, iron battle-axe strapped on her back, even if she looked rather small to wield it.

"Don't you think she could do with a little more... armour?" Penny whispered, when they were a 'safe' distance away at the other end of the bathroom.

_I dunno, she seems rather snobby. Maybe if she got herself killed with lack of armour we'd have one less bitch to deal with._

"Neo!" Penny scolded rather loudly, covering her mouth almost immediately.

The girl scoffed at them for a second time before packing up whatever she had scattered around the sinks and leaving the room in a bit of a huff. Penny and Neo looked at each other one more time, Neo trying to hide her smirk and Penny looking like she felt bad, before they split off into separate stalls and changed at the speed of sound when the noise outside rose.

When they each left the stalls, the bathroom was full. How that happened in the span of under five minutes, neither of them knew, but there were lines waiting for each of the stalls. They squeezed their way past the two girls who entered their now empty stalls and found spaces at the mirrors so they could fix their hair and whatnot - Penny redoing her bow which had slightly come out. She squeaked loudly as someone push against her tail and she whipped around to see a small girl trying to pick herself up off the floor.

"Ah - um - sorry - excuse me," she kept trying to raise her voice as people crowded her but she was as quiet as a mouse so Penny did the first thing she could think of: she crouched down and picked the girl up with ease, placing her on the counter in front of herself and Neo. Needless to say, the girl was rather surprised.

She was the same height as Neo (wearing her heels) and she was quite thin. She had warm ivory skin with freckles covering her nose and cheeks, lilac eyes, and short, cherry red hair tied in a small ponytail with strands framing her round face and she also had large fox ears poking out of her head, their colour matching with her hair. She was wearing a daisy coloured tie front top, an indigo, combat skirt, and she also wore onyx combat boots. With being fully changed, it was obvious that she was trying to escape the crowded room and her small stature didn't help with getting noticed.

"Salu-tations," Penny smiled in her usual greeting, "are you okay?"

"Um, yeah - uh - thank you," she replied, her ears resting against her head nervously.

"No problem, it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Penny."

_Neo, lovely to meet you._

"Ah - yeah, I'm Robin," the faunus replied, her ears lifting off her head as she smiled at the pair.

"We're heading back to the ballroom, want some help getting back?"

Robin nodded and hopped off the counter, taking Neo and Penny's outstretched hands as the three of them made it out of the crowded room and in the much emptier hallway. They smiled at each other again before heading back to the ballroom. The room was half empty, most of the people having gone to get ready, Ren and Roman were by the window again, Roman fully changed and getting his hair out of his face with the pink hair clip he'd worn the day previously, and Ren reading through something on his scroll. Sun was awake and harassing Sage for something whilst Neptune and Scarlet had probably gone off to change. Robin had disappeared from Penny's side and was across the room talking to a boy who was messing with a sword, the girl from the bathroom was there too, sharpening one of the blades on her axe. There was also another boy, **floating** above the other two, taking apart and putting back together a shiny copper flute.

The boy with the sword looked somewhat similar to Robin, though he was much more muscular. He had matching ivory skin, and windswept cherry red hair, however his eyes were honey coloured and he had no fox ears or tail. He wore a teal button-up shirt that was half tucked into a pair of plum jeans and accompanied by cobalt converse, he had armour covering his elbows, knees and chest, and had a long sheath connected to his waist by a black belt which also had several different pouches on it as well. The sword he held was a claymore sword that had a large, ink coloured hilt and a snow coloured blade - it looked dust compatible.

The flying boy had scruffy, coffee hair and mint green eyes. He wore brown ankle boots with a white fold, ebony leggings, and a cerulean tunic with a leather belt wrapped around his waist. The belt had a sheath like thing to hold his flute and several pouches like the other boy.

"Pan get down. These guys helped me out, that's Penny and Neo," Robin smiled at the three people, the floating boy landing and twirling his flute in his left hand.

"Salu-tations," Penny waved, her tail wagging happily.

"Oh, it's you," the girl rolled her eyes and went back to sharpening her weapon.

"Don't mind Jacqueline," the cherry haired boy spoke with a small smile, "Edward's the name. Thanks for helping out my sister."

_No problem, I know what it's like to go unnoticed due to height. She's lovely, by the way._

"Robin? Lovely? Now that's something I haven't heard in a while," the boy Robin called Pan spoke up, lifting off the floor again slightly with a loud laugh.

"So, how do you all know each other? Aside from Edward and Robin, of course," Penny wondered, holding onto Neo's arm so she wouldn't lash out in case Jacqueline or Pan made an off-hand comment again.

"Family friends," Robin answered, "Jacqueline and Pan are a thing - if you know what I mean - and Pan lived near Edward and I when we were younger. We went to Sanctum together and now we're here."

"Oh, great idea, tell them our whole life story why don't you?" Jacqueline said with a slight groan, placing her axe on the floor in front of her and falling onto her back to stare up at Pan who had returned to flying.

"Don't worry, one more question and we'll be going. Uh, how is Pan doing that?" Penny asked, pointing at the flying boy who stopped having a conversation with Jacqueline when he heard his name.

"It's called a semblance, sweetheart," he replied, "gravity manipulation, I can mess with the gravity in a specific area or concentrate it into a person such as myself."

_Neat, we'll go then. See ya later._

The siblings waved, Pan and Jacqueline giving a single, lazy wave as the girls went back to Roman and Ren. Neo promptly dropped into Roman's lap and sighed whilst Penny rested her head on Ren's shoulder to see what he was reading.

_Is it too late to give up on initiation and join a league of master criminals?_

"Maybe just a bit, Neo. People getting on your nerves already?" Roman chuckled, shifting slightly as Neptune and Scarlet entered the room again.

_Yes. And here I was hoping there would be less annoying, mean, and just down-right rude people._

"Don't worry too much," Ren said, turning his scroll off and putting it back in his bag, "we've made an exceptional amount of friends and acquaintances, one or two people won't be a problem."

"Wise words from the ever zen Ren," Roman joked, acting over-dramatic to make both girls giggle.

* * *

 About another hour passed before every first year student was back in the ballroom. By that point it was probably 9:30am so all off the sleeping bags had been rolled up and everyone had packed away their things back in their luggage for it to be moved to wherever (most assumed dorms after initiation). Each of the students had their weapons with them, with no place to store them yet, they just kept them close, especially since they would need them for initiation.

"Alright first years," a voice called from the ballroom doorway. There stood what appeared to be a second or third year team and the bulky boy that spoke must've been the leader, "my team and I are in charge of getting you to breakfast before leaving you with Professor Pearl for your initiation."

"So there are teams," someone mumbled from the crowd of first years.

"Yeah, yeah, gawk all you want. Follow us." Another boy ordered, the team disappearing down the hallway.

A flurry of colours left the ballroom in that moment, no one wanting to lose the cool team of second or third years and/or not wanting to get lost looking for the cafeteria. Neo had grabbed Ren's hand when the mass had started moving, he had been closest to her since Roman and Penny seemed to disappear with Sun and Sage in the crowd somewhere. The boy didn't seem to mind her clinging, he squeezed her hand back so she knew she wouldn't lose him in the chaos and Scarlet appeared to be clinging to Neptune's arm as well, probably hoping not to lose one of three familiar faces to him.

There were several corners turned and several classes passed. Each of the second, third, and fourth years probably started at the earliest of 9:00am so the team leading them were likely happy to skip part of a lesson.

"So, we have Professor Pearl as a Year Head, what does she teach? And who are the other Year Heads?" Some boys asked from the crowd, everyone was so huddled together that it wasn't too hard to hear them or the answer given.

"Professor Pearl teaches Remnant History and sometimes Combat if the second year's Head is on a mission with a team or two, the second years have Professor Anyil, he's the normal Combat teacher. We third years have the Grimm teacher, Professor Fiddle, and the fourth years have Professor Bernadette who does Criminal Psychology. There are loads of other teachers who do General English, Maths, and Science so you'll get to meet them too, but, your Year Head is the most important teacher you'll have on your side if things go wrong."

"But Pearl seems so strict," a girl whined, "why would she stick up for us?"

The single girl in the team laughed, "she does seem rather tough when you meet her. But honestly, she's really sweet. Now, every Head has their favourite teams - it's usually about three or four that they always let do whatever so if you get to be Professor Pearl's favourites, count yourselves lucky."

_Well that sounds wonderful doesn't it? Favouritism never works out for majority of the year. We're screwed._

"Don't be so pessimistic," Ren and Neptune spoke at the same time, Scarlet nodding in agreement after having to slowly read her message.

"Maybe we'll part of her favourite teams," the redhead said optimistically.

"Don't be too optimistic either, I think we're considered a group of troublemakers already," Sun's voice piped up, appearing next to Scarlet and Neptune - he was alone, so Sage, Penny and Roman were still lost.

"Sun!" Scarlet beamed, letting go of Neptune's arm to cling to Sun's, the blonde just sort of pet the other boy's head and continued following the crowd.

* * *

Roman sighed quietly. He was somewhere near the front of the group with Penny holding onto his shirt from behind and Sage leading the way. The three of them did have Sun with them at one point, but he disappeared much like the rest of their little group.

"Please tell me we're nearly at the cafeteria," Penny mumbled, her tail slightly brushing against his leg as she tried to keep it out of people's way.

"I think so, I may not have the best sense of smell but I'm pretty sure that's food," Roman replied reassuringly.

"Yeah," Sage nodded, looking back at the two, "we're nearly there. We can find everyone else in a minute."

Penny nodded and sighed happily, her grip on Roman's shirt slightly loosening.

"Alright, pipsqueaks," the team leader at the front called, gathering everyone's attention at the slight insult (Roman somewhat scoffing considering he was taller than literally most of the year), "breakfast time! Your initiation starts at 10:00am so that means you have twenty minutes to grab food, eat and meet Professor Pearl in the locker room down the hall - you can't miss it, I promise."

And with that, the team left. Disappearing off to whatever lesson they had skipped for a few minutes and leaving the first years to calmly (heh, slight lie there) make there way to where the food was being served. Sage, once again, managed to get them into a good spot in the line so they wouldn't miss the good stuff and so they could find a table as soon as possible, he just grabbed a few different fruits that were laid out as well as a glass of ice cold water and some cereal. Roman got something simple: a couple strips of bacon, some beans, an apple, and a warm mug of coffee - because this school allowed seventeen year-olds to work on caffeine. Penny went a much sweeter route and got the biggest stack of pancakes Roman had ever seen, she got whipped cream and cherries with them too, as well as a mug of hot chocolate to accompany the meal.

The smaller of the two redheads found a table and sat at it rather happily, Roman seated himself next to her with Sage opposite them. Penny started eating immediately, humming in delight and eyes sparkling at the taste.

"You like sweet things then?" Roman asked offhandedly, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I never had a lot of sweets when I was younger, so when mine and Ren's 'legal guardian' - as he calls himself - moved us into a big house in the countryside, Ren took up cooking and decided to let me try some of the sweet things, like pancakes, that he used to have before stuff happened."

Roman nodded, not wanting to pry any further into her past or Ren's for the time being.

"Found you!" Neptune's voice broke through their short comfortable silence.

The blue haired boy appeared next to Sage with a bowl of cereal and coffee. Sun and Scarlet showed up after, both with some fruit, toast and tea. Ren and Neo took seats on either side of Penny and Roman; Ren having a smaller, but similar styled stack of pancakes and a smoothie, and Neo having some toast, cereal and milk.

"Ah, and here you are. I thought we'd lost you for the rest of eternity," Roman smirked, Neo elbowing him in the side as her response.

"You aren't gonna get rid of us that easily," Sun grinned, his tail wrapped around the banana he was eating.

"We wouldn't want to, I can assure you of that," Penny smiled.

The eight of them continued to eat in a comfortable silence, the sounds of clattering cutlery and gossiping students filling the room. Some students took their time, savouring their meals whilst others tried to eat as quickly as possible and evidently chocking on a slice of toast or their drinks.

Roman looked at the varying students with amusement written on his face as he downed the rest of his coffee. Neo shoved her last piece of toast into her mouth just as he stood; being the gentleman that he was, Roman stacked their plates and trays to take them to the 'dumping station' as the other students decided to call it. When he turned to head back to the table, Neo stood there, her umbrella thrown over one shoulder and Neptune on her left holding everyone else's trays.

"Oh, so you made me take your stuff for no reason then?" He asked jokingly, bending his torso down to look the small girl in the eye as Neptune put all of the other trays down.

_Ha ha. We're all heading to the locker room, get your butt moving, we got five minutes._

He hummed in reply, straightening up and following her as she and Neptune walked to the exit of the large room where several other students - and the rest of their little group - were heading down to where the locker room was supposed to be.

"Let's head into hell then," Sun beamed, taking the lead and bounding forward excitedly.

"Come on! This'll be so fun," Penny smiled, taking Ren's hand and pulling him along with her as she followed Sun down the hall.

The other boys ran after them before Roman and Neo followed at a much slower pace.

* * *

"Each of you have a rocket propelled locker for you to store your weapons and other necessary supplies that you may need if you are out and need your equipment on short notice. You will be required, after initiation, to put away your weapons before the ceremony in the evening," Professor Pearl spoke clearly, her arms folded behind her back with her staff missing and a necklace around her neck.

The copper haired woman sent separate codes to each student's scroll before leading them outside to a cliff looking over a grey forest that spread behind the school. There were platforms on the long cliff, where each student stood, looking down slightly nervously.

"Unfortunately, Professor Lionheart is unable to attend this year's initiation - much like most of them - so I will be monitoring you alone. You will be launched into the Forest of Silver from these platforms, you must come up with your own landing strategy. Now, the first person you make eye contact with in this forest will be your partner for the next four years here at Haven, you have to move through the forest and find items that look out of place - you will know them when you see them, I assure you, and there is one for you and your partner - you may not show your items to anyone other than your partner," she paused, a loud howl piercing through the silence of the forest, "there will be Grimm. Some of you may get hurt, but I am confident in your abilities and believe that none of you will die down there. However, I understand that you may get cornered or may have to take a diversion if their forces grow around you, so, you have until sundown to find your partner, find your items, and make it back up here for the ceremony. Any questions?"

Pan raised his hand, his other stuffed into his pocket and his weight on his left leg, "what's the terrain like? Is it just pure forest or is there other stuff we need to know about down there?"

Pearl nodded, "good question, Mr. Darling. The area is mostly forest, but as you may be able to tell by our position on the map, there is an area of cliff that leads down to a lake, there are also several sets of ruins dotted around - though I'm not sure how many of you will encounter them. Right, is everyone ready?" Professor Pearl exhaled quickly, bringing her larger scroll up to her chest.

She watched each of the students nod and one by one, she set off their launch pads, sending them all flying off into the forest with individual cameras monitoring all of them.

* * *

Penny flew through the air with a smile on her face, spreading her arms out as if she were flying. In her line of sight, she could see a sturdy tree directly in her direction of descent. Her smile grew wider as she straightened up in the air and flipped around, releasing two wire-bound swords from her backpack. They embedded themselves into the top of the tree's trunk and Penny stretched her legs out behind her to catch herself, her tail clinging to the closest branch as she stared directly down at the floor. She allowed the wires to extend and she walked down the trunk carefully before hopping onto the floor; she pulled on the wires and released her blades, pulling them back into her backpack and brushing herself off lightly, skipping into the silver forest.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Sun could see many other students falling, he'd seen Roman at first but had lost sight of him now. The blond smirked, stretching his tail out and catching a branch, swinging a couple times before stopping and hanging upside down for a bit. He listened for any signs of Grimm or other students before using his natural parkour skills to get to the ground and sprint off into the bushes.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Robin's fell quickly and latched onto the first branch that was closest to her, throwing herself up to stand atop it. The gap that used to be between her top and skirt was now filled by a thick golden belt with a quiver attached; many arrows were in it as well as a metallic, aqua, advanced bow folded up inside. She took a moment to catch her breath before taking her bow and flicking it outwards to unfold it. She stared down the scope to survey her area and noticed a tall, ruined tower in the distance; being the only noticeable structure in the area, she decided to head in that direction. Grabbing an arrow, a wire, and a hook, Robin tied them together and notched the arrow, bringing her bow up to her face and staring down the scope once more. She let the arrow loose - which embedded into the bottom of a different tree trunk a mile or so away - and tied the hook around the tree before allowing her bowstring to fold inwards so she could hook it over the wire and zip down into more trees.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Roman crash landed, to say the least. He had minimal time to react as he was quite literally thrown into the path of a tall tree. He shoo his head to recover from the dizziness caused from his collision and allowed his aura to seal up the minor cuts he'd sustained. He quickly found his footing and stood, his head poking through the top of the tree where he could clearly see Professor Pearl sat at the edge of the cliff looking out over the forest with the large scroll in her lap. He ducked back under the leaves and assessed the distance between where he was and the ground before using his height advantage to reach the branches below him. He finally made it to the bottom with lightly scarred arms from the many scratches his aura healed up. He sighed, folding his arms and wandering in a random direction.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Scarlet yelped as he was launched, flying through the air similarly to how he saw Penny do. Thanks to his insanely good balance, he managed to land on a rotting lamppost in the centre of a set of ruins. He gulped, practically feeling the negative energy emanating from the crumbling houses. He drew out his sword and pistol as howls of Beowolves surrounded him.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Edward felt the wind rush past his face and heard it zooming in his ears as he descended. He drew his sword, twirling it in his hand a couple times before stabbing it into a large tree. He hung there for a moment, hearing Beowolves to the east of him, and opened one of the pouches on his belt, pulling out a black dust crystal and inserting it into the sword's hilt. The blade turned black as the dust took effect, the gravity alteration allowed the sword to slice down the tree until Edward hit the floor. Pulling the blade from the trunk, he patted the cut tree and offered a small - unnecessary - apology before heading in the opposite direction to the Beowolves. 

_**~#~#~#~** _

Neo flew for a short amount of time, judging the wind strength and direction before pulling her umbrella off of her belt and opening it above her. The wind carried her down gracefully and she landed on the ground in a slight crouch. Straightening up, she smiled, inhaled the forest air, and swinging her still open umbrella over her shoulder as she sauntered off into the trees.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Neptune pulled down his goggles as he shot through the sky. He pulled his gun from his back and shot holes through the trees in his way, diving through each as the ground got closer. Shifting his weapon into it's trident form, he stabbed that into the ground as the dirt got closer, landing in a hero-like crouch. He stood, cracking his knuckles and returning his trident to it's gun form and putting it back in its place before marching into the forest.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Jacqueline landed almost immediately, activating her semblance and grabbing a branch. Said branch glowed neon yellow (like the girl's aura) and several silver vines began to grow out of it; they wrapped around her wrists and slowly lowered her to the forest floor. When her feet made contact with the ground, the vines and branch stopped glowing and she was set free from the vines' grasp, leaving the plants to hang there at abnormally long lengths as she walked away.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Ren exhaled slowly, somersaulting in the air a few times to gain a bit of control with his fall. He concentrated his aura into his legs and connected with the side of a tree. The sound of his impact was loud and the tree was knocked over entirely, making him stand atop the fallen tree brushing himself off. He murmured I quiet _oops_ and hopped off the trunk, deciding to head east in search of whoever would be his partner.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Sage had been grabbed by a Nevermore before he could even get ten feet near the ground. Whether it was because he looked like good food or because he just attracted the Grimm for no apparent reason, he wasn't sure, but he did not appreciate being dropped in a ruined building from the height he was at. His aura helped heal his aching back and he stood, the Nevermore having ditched him and Beowolf howls filling the eerie silence.

_**~#~#~#~** _

Pan allowed himself to fall, only catching himself with his semblance when he nearly crashed into a hoard of Ursai. He hovered over them for a bit, watching them in amusement as they tried to swat him down like a fly. He stuck his tongue out at the creatures childishly and twirled his flute in his left hand, bringing it closer and playing a note only the Grimm (or people/faunus with exceptionally good hearing - i.e. apologies to Robin if she was near) could hear. The hoard all made screaming like sounds before two of them collapsed dead, two of them had their heads explode and the others ran off, allowing the smirking boy to land, and survey his handiwork.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, with the V4 Finale showing us Mistral - which looks amazing! - we can get a better idea of what Haven is like. I still don't trust my writing skills to do the description justice so, that's still up to you (sorry!).
> 
> From the V4 Finale, there is a casual distrust of Mr. Cowardly Lion Headmaster over in my little brain - but hey, these guys have Professor Pearl, they'll be fine.
> 
> And I have themed my OCs on different book/fairy tale characters so far and I do hope you like my choices - I'm not entirely sure who has been represented yet but yes, I am aware Scarlet is already Peter Pan.


	3. Initiation Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone partners up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, this chapter was supposed to be out in March... sorry. I was busy with exams back then and I've started a new school recently (I know I had summer but I was preoccupied), and now I'm moving around courses but I'm back now! Don't hate me, I'm sorry.  
> But you know, it's really weird writing about one of your own characters hating a canon character with the same name (username in my case) as you.

Penny wandered around aimlessly, heading in the general direction of where she'd seen a tower through a gap in the trees. She had four swords out from the ten in her backpack, each of them hovering close to her on the off chance she ran into any Grimm. She definitely heard some sort of yelling and/or screaming coming from someplace to her right, she wasn't entirely sure whether or not she really wanted to go towards it, especially when growls of Creeps echoed over the cries. Despite the want to help people, Penny knew that every person in the forest was somewhat trained to deal with the threats of Grimm, so, she decided against going towards the danger and instead focused on her goal of looking for a partner and getting that out of place object Professor Pearl spoke of. The faunus girl practically prayed that the person she ended up with was friendly - or at least marginally manageable - and not someone who had a thing against faunus, or girls, or people in general. Penny just wanted someone she could tolerate and someone who would tolerate her, especially if that partner became the leader of whatever team she became a part of. That was another thing, teams! What if she got stuck on a team that decided to torture her because she was a faunus? What if she got stuck on a team of awful human beings that decided not to let her see her friends again? Her thoughts ran rampant in her head and, out of frustration, she threw the four swords forward. She hoped to relieve some of her stress by killing a Beowolf or tearing up a tree (yes, she got rather violent when frustrated) or something. She definitely hit a tree, but along with it came a loud yelp and a very familiar voice yelling.

"Can you **not** try and kill me yet, Freckles."

_**~#~** _

Roman walked. He wasn't exactly heading anywhere specific, just somewhere away from the cliff, and that stupid tree. He didn't particularly care which direction he was going, he was looking for a partner and an item just like every other person in the forest. Silver leaves drifted around him as he trotted along, he kept absentmindedly tightening his gloves around his wrists and clenching his fists every now and then. Unlike a lot of people, he wasn't that worried about partners or teams, he just wanted to actually be able to use his skills legally - not that he'd used them super illegally before being accepted into the school; but that wasn't to say he didn't know how to pick the lock of the freezer room and get ice cream for Neo. As for partners and teams, he mostly wanted to end up with people he could handle, people he could ignore if he wanted to. But god **forbid** if he ended up being the only guy on a team; he'd lived with more girls than just Neo and none of that ended very well on his end. He sighed, running a hand down his face and deciding to take a break from walking. He rested his back against the trunk of a tree and looked forward; in front of him he saw Penny, four swords hovering around her, she was staring at the ground and kicking up some of the grey dirt dejectedly. Just as he was about to call out to her, the blades shot towards him - whether the girl knew he was there or not - and he yelped (rather femininely he hated to admit) and half curled in on himself and yelling at her.

"Can you **not** try and kill me yet, Freckles."

He heard her gasp, looking up at him with hands covering her mouth and the swords pulling out of the tree around him and returning to her backpack. She stared at him for a few more seconds before sprinting over to him and looking up at him with an apologetic look gracing her face.

"Roman! I'm so sorry! I didn't realise you were there, I'm really sorry, I was just frustrated. I was worried about stupid stuff."

He exhaled slowly, lightly ruffling her hair similar to how he used to do for Neo when they were younger - and still sometimes did when she was sad. "It's fine, Freckles. Ya just freaked me out, at least you didn't actually stab me. Especially since we're partners now," he smiled as her face lit up, probably having forgotten about the eye contact rule through her panic.

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" She beamed, her tail wagging excitedly behind her as she squealed, "we're partners now!" She bounced in the air happily, gaining a quiet chuckle from Roman.

* * *

Sun strolled through the quiet forest, twirling Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in their staff form. He was following a path of grey dirt and had no idea of where it was going and was just mindlessly walking along it. His tail twitched every so often if he heard or noise - or more distant yells that seemed to be everywhere. All he could think about was if anyone was actually trained to survive in the damn forest. Now, he may have been from Vacuo, which was just a large span of desert with oases dotted about here and there, but he knew how to live in a forest; that may have been faunus instincts, but he sure as hell seemed to be fairing better than whoever was yelling and screaming. Poor saps. He rolled his eyes, turning towards where the yelling was coming from and deciding to head that way to see if he could help anyone. A flash of blue caught his eye and his head whipped around, landing him staring down at the blade of a guandao.

"Neptune?"

_**~#~** _

Neptune whistled as he power-walked between bushes. He kept his cool façade up as he went along in case he ran into his potential partner, or girls, he had to impress the girls... it was kind of his thing. That definitely didn't mean he wasn't scared, he was about as jumpy as a cat when someone knocks on the front door. A rustle of leaves made him instinctually grab his gun, shifting it into the guandao form so he could stab things **away** from him. He halted a moment, listening for any more noises with his grip tight around his weapon; there was another rustle and he gasped, jabbing his guandao forward but stopping before he stabbed a very familiar blond in the face.

"Neptune?"

"Sun!?"

"Buddy! Hey!" The boy grinned, raising his hand for a fist bump as Neptune folded his weapon away.

"You scared the hell outta me, dude," the blue-haired boy smiled, returning the fist bump.

"Sorry," Sun chuckled, throwing his arm over Neptune's shoulders and leading him towards the sound of screaming and growling, "now let's go help some chumps with their Grimm problem."

* * *

Robin managed to keep her zip-line fall as controlled as it could be, slowing down every so often with a shift of her bow, or stopping completely if something passed over her and she didn't want to draw its attention. What she hadn't anticipated, when she got closer to the tree she'd shot, was a piercing whistle-like noise to fill the air. Her grip on her bow faltered, making her fall into a bunch of bushes and curl up, covering her fox ears in an attempt to block out the noise. She knew exactly where it was coming from, exactly who was doing it, and exactly why he was doing it - especially when a couple of Ursai ran past her place and the sound stopped. She growled, uncurling and glaring in the direction the noise originated from and feeling a headache growing.

"Pan!"

_**~#~** _

Pan smirked down at the dead Grimm, kicking one of them for good measure. He twirled his flute and returned it to its place on his belt, he stepped over the creatures and turned to head in one direction before hearing a very annoyed yell.

"Pan!"

He cringed, " **crap** ," of course she had been there, where else would she have been? God, Edward was going to give him hell for that - though, probably not as much hell as the small girl would cause. It probably would've been a smarter idea to run, but she already knew he was there and would kill him further if he ditched her - and Edward would probably push him off a cliff (no matter how ineffective that would be). He turned towards the direction of the voice and pushed a few bushes aside.

There she was. In all of her pissed off glory. She glared daggers at him, sat on the ground underneath a wire that he figured she'd fallen from when he killed the Ursai.

"Uh - hehe - sorry, Short stack," he shrugged helplessly, raising his hands in surrender as she stood.

"Oh, I'm gonna need more than an apology, Pan," she glared, "I fell five feet because of that stupid flute and now I have a headache that'll potentially screw up my performance in this." 

"Oh, calm it. Let's go get our item and get outta this forest."

* * *

Scarlet held his cutlass in one hand and his pistol in the other, shooting a creep every-so-often as they appeared from the rotting houses and slashing at the Grimm brave enough to try and leap for him, then again, they could probably just sense his nervousness. While he was a pretty confident guy, he was always the one to panic a bit about a lot of things; which was probably why he yelped each time something lunged at him and screamed as a pair of Nevermores flew over, one dropping something into one of the nearby houses.

What made him more finicky was that he still, even at this prestigious training academy, had no idea what his semblance was; when he attended Sanctum with Sun, Sage and a few other people he'd seen around, he'd made close friends with Pyrrha Nikos (yes, **the** Pyrrha Nikos). He had no idea why he was musing about the past at that very moment but what he was trying to get at was the fact that he didn't know what his semblance was and therefore didn't know how to use it to save him in that moment.

"Scarlet!" A familiar voice beckoned a few metres away.

Scarlet turned towards the voice and found, to his luck, Sage stood there with a few bruises staring at him as he slashed at beowolves that tried grouping up on him. Yes! His partner was somebody he could work with and hold up a conversation with.

_**~#~** _

Sage was immensely grateful that he'd found Scarlet in one piece. When he fell he heard the redhead scream and thought something bad had happened to him, but Sage figured now that he was just startled (a Nevermore had flown over after all). He was also rather pleased to discover that he had been the first to find Scarlet since he knew how his friend could be around new people. Scarlet liked almost as relieved to see the big guy standing there severing the limbs off oncoming Grimm, setting his feet firmly on the top of the lamppost he stood atop and pushed off roughly, leaping through the air to land on a beowolf right in front of Sage; Sage not quite sure why Scarlet hadn't done that before (or even how he managed to pull off such lucky feats most of the time).

The horde of Grimm backed up as shots were fired off from within the trees, the two boys turned to look, only to find a familiar blonde and blue-haired duo smirking at them.

"Having fun there?" Sun asked.

* * *

There wasn't much to watch with Edward and Jacqueline's meeting, Professor Pearl found it rather mundane compared to what a lot of the other students were going though. She supposed though, that it was only fair to allow one duo to have an ordinary meeting; just a simple greeting and shake of the hand before dashing off further into the brush as the pair she watched did. So far, she had to say her favourite meetings were between Mr Torchwick and Miss Polendina as well as Mr David and Mr Ayana's meeting. She liked the looks of her students this year, they were an interesting and diverse bunch that she was almost happy Headmaster Lionheart had nothing to do with them; while he was her superior, that didn't mean she had to like him, nor a lot of the morals she'd witnessed him posses, especially the morals he passed on to sets of students.

While most of the groups she was watching hadn't met them yet, the four latecomers to the initiation were all doing rather well themselves: Mr Black and Miss Sustrai had paired up (not that it was any surprise to Pearl, they looked like they had a plan when they showed up along with the other duo). Mr Marigold and Miss Almond seemed to make a fine pair themselves, they already exhibited exceptional partnering skills so Pearl was almost inclined to let them get away with being late. Almost.

* * *

Neo danced along the grey dirt path, swinging her umbrella around as she twirled like there was nothing anyone could do to harm her in that moment. She got like that sometimes, forgetting about her situation and just mindlessly skipping, but that's what comes out of a girl from the circus, isn't it? 

She wasn't overly concerned with finding a partner at that moment, she mostly just wanted to appreciate her time alone, she seldom got the chance to. She very rarely got an opportunity to be alone with her thoughts let alone being left by herself, she cherished the moments she had because from her experiences she knew they didn't last particularly long, especially in gorgeous but deadly places like the Forest of Silver she was galavanting in now.

She was so lost in her thoughts and movements that she didn't even hear the beast that was heading in her direction; her usually Faunus-like hearing being blocked out by her memories. She snapped back into reality when a hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her into the bushes, she would've blindly attacked whoever it was had her whole being gone numb, emotionless, grey, and a large Deathstalker scuttled past her hiding spot as if nothing was even remotely near it.

"Sorry, Neo, you weren't exactly answering me when I called." Well, at least she hadn't been grabbed by a murderer, it was just Ren.

_**~#~** _

Ren had felt a whole bunch of emotions when he ended up in the forest, he almost wished he could turn his semblance off; he was lucky he only picked up high concentrations (if you could call it that) of emotions or else he'd probably have collapsed.

He knew he felt raw fear coming from somewhere east of him - though the screams kind of made that one obvious - there were spikes of fear and panic at different points away from him. He felt varying states of worry from a source he knew particularly well; he was just lucky she seemed to be preoccupied with other thoughts, that meant the separation anxiety wasn't kicking in yet - it probably would for a moment when they met back up or when she calmed down enough for her brain to catch up with her surroundings.

But the closest source of strong emotion was the serene calmness from Neo, whom he found a few moments later and saved from a Deathstalker whilst also probably giving her a mild heart attack (he wasn't sure, the controlled part of his semblance kicked in too fast).

"Sorry, Neo, you weren't exactly answering me when I called." Because, he had called her name, a few times, when he saw her but she wasn't listening so he had to pull a bit of a stunt.

Luckily, the numbness that he usually forced on people left them rather calm after, which meant there was less of a chance of being hit when he used it (normally it was to protect people but sometimes he liked to mess around with people when they were angry or generally grumpy, he blamed that trait on his guardian). So, while Neo looked a little bit annoyed, she seemed overall pleased that he simultaneously saved her from a Grimm and made them both partners for the duration of their  school years.

_I'll let you off this time, Ren_

There was a long increase in panic from (what felt like) not too far left of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on Tumblr!  
> https://lion-hearts136.tumblr.com/
> 
> So, I'm not amazing at writing combat... but I do try. Saying that, there did seem to be a running theme of partners almost killing each other at first oops.
> 
> Each of the beginning parts happen at roughly the same time (if you couldn't tell), so that's why Scarlet's screaming probably appears to last so long. I just thought I'd clarify that in case people were a bit confused - essentially, everything happens at the same time until they all meet up.  
> Also, a few of my personal headcannons/backstories are dropped in here so I hope you found that somewhat interesting :)


	4. Initiation Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's fighting, new friendships and teamwork! What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, initially this part and last part where going to be one big chapter but the partnering bits ended up a little longer than I planned at first so I split the pieces up; sorry about the long wait.

Roman was in the lead of his duo, mostly because he took such long strides, looking around the area for any sign of the ruins Penny hadn't mentioned to him after they partnered up. She seemed strangely quiet for the bouncy girl she was half an hour ago; she'd slowed down considerably too, to the point where Roman had to stop and turn around to see exactly what was wrong.

Now, he hadn't known her for very long, so he wasn't exactly quite sure what to do when she just stood there, staring at the ground, clinging to her tail, crying and hyperventilating. He'd seen some of the girls at the circus have panic attacks before but the nurse usually took care of that, he sometimes panicked with them because he had no idea what to do other than to remind them to breathe.

He didn't want to feel useless, he really didn't, he had a feeling that's Ren was one of, if not the only one who knew what was wrong with her and how to deal with it but he could be on the other side of the forest with Scarlet for all he knew.

He tried his best, he tried not to get too into her airspace and knelt down so she could see him, at least so she knew someone familiar was around. He attempted to get her to mimic his breathing (something he'd seen the nurse do) at it worked a little, at least helping her get a bit more air in so she didn't pass out. He heard a rustle from the bushes and a hand went to one of his pistols, he really didn't want to deal with any sort of Grimm right at that moment, even if it was the tiniest baby Nevermore.

You could practically hear him let out every ounce of air inside of him when Ren and Neo (what a surprise) appeared in the pathway Roman and Penny had stopped in. Roman was sure Penny would have charged at Ren if she had the energy, but she just let go of her tail and clung to the lean boy's frame as he hugged her. Roman watched in surprise as their bodies turned grey, Penny slowly stopped crying and just sniffed numbly as colour went back to their beings.

_Neat semblance, huh?_

He read Neo's message and almost laughed (in relief, obviously) at how useful of a semblance Ren appeared to have; he was intrigued to learn what kinds of extra upsides and downsides it came with since most semblances had them. He watched the pair for a moment before turning to survey the area and noticing the ruined tower pretty close by so he turned back to tell the others. Neo nodded, skipping forward to scout ahead and he saw Penny smile softly at him, a gesture he returned, before wiping her eyes and dashing off to join Neo in her scouting.

Roman turned to follow, seeing Ren appear in the corner of his eye, "she gonna be okay?" He asked the dark-haired boy.

Ren nodded, "yeah, she gets like that when she doesn't know where I am or if she doesn't know where she is so being in this forest is a little overwhelming for her. Thanks for keeping her from completely breaking down by the way."

Roman hummed in understanding and acknowledgement looking forward to seeing Neo and Penny interacting pleasantly as they approached the tower standing tall in the forest. It was made of a mix of withered wood and mossy stone, the structure clearly having stood there for at least a couple of decades; there were red accents painted on some of the cleaner stone, making out paintings of flowery symbols. When they came to it fully, they circled it a couple of times to discover it had no door, not even anything that would hint to being a door.

"Well, how the heck do we get in?" Penny asked, hands on her hips as she stared at the offending stone in front of her eyes.

"Window," Roman spoke suddenly, pointing upwards towards the top of the tower.

The eyes of the others followed, spotting an arched window with a cracked, wooden windowsill in front of it. Roman watched as his partner and Ren looked at each other and nodded at some silent plan they'd come up with, he was about to ask what they were going to do when Penny turned to look at him and Neo.

"Ren's going to throw me up there with a little aura boost and I'll attach one of my swords," as if to emphasise her point, one of her wired swords came from her backpack, "just above the window. He can then throw each of you up to me so I can hold you in a good position to go through the window."

 _Why don't you just extend a couple of you swords up and save him throwing you?_ Neo asked plainly.

"Cause it's more fun this way!"

Roman sighed with a small smile, at least she was back to normal. Their plan worked pretty well, Roman was impressed with how much control Ren had with his aura, it seemed he wasn't the only one who knew how to concentrate his aura; though with weapons as small and widely ineffective against heavily armoured Grimm as theirs, the boys had to have another trick up their sleeves that wasn't just their semblances.

The wooden floor underneath him felt a little too bendy for his liking, especially with four people up there altogether. The inside of the tower was split into thirds by two walls, one wall had an old wooden creaking off of one of its hinges and the other sectioned off a staircase clearly leading down to nothing. Roman looked at Neo, who grabbed Ren's upper arm and headed for the staircase, leaving him and Penny to investigate the room.

It was anticlimactic, to say the least, the door dropping off its other hinge and breaking through the floor (he  _knew_ it wasn't stable), leaving him and Penny to shimmy past the large hole - waving awkwardly to Ren and Neo who they could now see as they did so - and into the room. There wasn't much inside, on Roman's side there was an old painting, half of it faded with age, and on Penny's side was a small oak podium with two cards on it: The Queen of Hearts and The Queen of Diamonds.

"Cards?" Penny questioned, eyebrow raised in confusion as she picked the two up and spun around to show him.

"Is that what Professor Pearl wanted us to find..?" He asked, taking the Queen of Diamonds as it was handed to him.

"Uh, guys! We have to leave!" the echoed voice of Ren called from below them, slowly getting louder as if he were sprinting up the stairs

The tower shook, Roman caught himself on the wall while Penny grabbed the podium to keep herself upright. The pair ran out of the room just as Neo and Ren flew into the third where the window was; Penny ran to the window and poked her head out of it, Roman yanking her back just as a rock flew at the window, blocking them inside and plunging them into darkness.

"What happened!?" Roman exclaimed, spinning around to face the other two students as the tower shook.

_We may have... kind of... woke up a Geist that's possessed the tower._

Penny, the only one who could see in the dark relatively well, began pacing with a slight stumble as the others braced themselves against the two walls.

"Okay... so we have to find a safe way out of here without getting ourselves killed and beating this Geist. We then gotta figure out where we are after we get out and find a way back to the cliff," she mumbled to herself. She gasped suddenly and, while the others couldn't really see it, her tail wagged excitedly, "alright! Everyone get ready to charge."

She left minimal room for argument, a metallic sheen overcame her body and she ran at the blocked window forcing the others to follow.

* * *

Jacqueline grunted from exertion, slicing the head off an Ursa as Edward took down three by sending a stab of lighting through them. How they'd found the village they were in now they couldn't remember, a lot of the students she'd already encountered had converged on the village because of the redhead's loud scream (though he was now weaving around his friends with his cutlass and doing pretty well). So she and Edward were there, that blonde Faunus boy and his friends were there and so were Pan and Robin with two people she hadn't seen before.

There was a green haired girl shouting at them like a leader, she was dark skinned like Jacqueline and had red eyes that glared at the Grimm she was fighting. She wore an intricate white top and an olive-coloured crop top, white pants and brown chaps that end at her calves and an overlong belt, twice-wrapped, where she kept her weapons as well as a single pouch; she also had on two bronze-colored rings on her middle fingers as well as a pair of high-heeled shoes. Her weapons were guns that folded out into sickles, she was currently firing at a few Creeps that were crawling out of one of the many abandoned houses closest to where her group was.

A boy, presumably her partner by the way he stood so close to her, was pale with silver hair and grey eyes; he wore a slate grey and black two-tone, partial-zip jacket, that covered his upper body, a single notched belt with what appears to be a sash or bandana draped over it and black trousers and shoes. It seemed like he didn't enjoy taking orders from his partner but did so anyway, his legs seemed to be his primary weapon, kicking at Grimm with the force of a truck. How Pan and Robin found those two Jacqueline wouldn't ever know.

A Nevermore was circling over the area of town where the boys were, crying out but never diving as if waiting for a chance when they wouldn't be surrounded by hordes of smaller Grimm. Jacqueline wasn't sure if anymore larger Grimm would start appearing and almost prayed they wouldn't, not when there was only the equivalent of two and a half teams, if more than one other Grimm showed up it would be a little difficult to fight them without more people.

A scream pierced the air, one of the buildings nearest to Edward burst into rubble and her partner rolled back towards her in a mild panic; as if the gods themselves wanted to ruin Jacqueline's day, two more big Grimm appeared in the remains of the house. A Deathstalker scuttled away from the destruction, heading towards Robin and Pan's group with a screech, a Beringel staying put and roaring at Edward and her while pounding against its armoured chest. Two bodies rolled out of the way as the Beringal's front fists hit the ground again, they must've been the ones screaming and the ones who drew the Grimm there in the first place.

The first one she noticed was the short, tan boy with green eyes and a black quiff, he jogged back to stand next to Edward and greeted him with an awkward chuckle (she caught that his name was Raymond Marigold). He wore a half buttoned-up shirt that could've been white if it wasn't messed up with old mud stains, the shirt was tucked into brown cargo pants that ended at his ankles and barely touched the steel-toed boots protecting his feet. He had belts wrapped around his lower torso and spiralling around one off his legs, in his left hand he held a completely metal pitchfork that looked as if it could shrink to a manageable size but also shift into another weapon.

There was a girl that came running back to stand by Raymond when she realised the Beringal was watching them much like the other bigger Grimm in the town; the small Grimm had begun backing off. Jacqueline joined Edward as she introduced herself as Peach Almond, she had an accent similar to that Scarlet boy's and she was about as tall as Penny's friend Roman even though she was wearing flat, purple trainers. Her hair was incredibly long, it was wound into a thick, messy braid that fell to her ankles, a fringe hiding her left eye while her right eye was a stunning blue, she wore paint-splattered jeans with armoured plating around her calves and one thigh, her torso was covered by a lilac halter top and black leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows; it didn't look like she had a weapon on her but a silver bracelet was wound around her wrist about three times, one end an intricate tulip that pressed into her arm while a delicate rose pressed into her hand on the other end.

Just as the last of the smaller Grimm disappeared into the forest, a loud crash sounded from behind her and Jaqueline spun around to see Penny and her friends come charging out of a tower that appeared to be possessed by a Geist, they (or more like she) had broken one of its arms to escape and roll unceremoniously to the mud and stone of the town paths. It seemed that the minute the Geist got it's arm back each of the other Grimm roared or screeched as they prepared for a fight.

Jacqueline focused on the Beringal that had set its sights on her group; she figured now was the time to be a team player and help guide her group to victory. Luckily, everyone had managed to spread out to a small section of town to fight their targeted Grimm so she had space to work.

"Semblances, tell me," she instructed, looking at Peach and Raymond.

"I turn plants and straw into gold - it's not very useful," Raymond stated, he then pointed to Peach, "she's got neat hair though! I've seen it, she can blind people with thorns."

"Okay good... Ed, I need you to make a distraction so we can get this thing blinded and have the upper hand."

Edward nodded, sheathing his sword and cracking his knuckles as he sprinted away from their congregated group to skid around the back of the Beringal, he pushed himself into a jump and landed on its head, a black mist surrounding its face as Edward used his momentum to jump back to his group. Peach reacted pretty quickly, her innocent, shy demeanour almost fading as her hair became like a thorny rose bush, running forward and spinning like a top to launch thorns through Ed's mist and into the Beringal's eyes; its main sense was gone and they had the upper hand.

Raymond flipped his pitchfork, the weapon's prongs clicking together to form a thick spear that was better for more precise attacks which is what they needed at the moment, Ed pulled his sword back out from its sheath and inputting a red dust crystal into the blade to set it alight, Jacqueline herself spun her axe in her hands, making sure she distributed the weight along her body as equally as she could. The leather jacket really gave off the type of person Peach was in combat, the bracelet practically came to life, electrical sparks breaking off of it as it untwisted from her arm, the rose in her palm practically digging into her skin to keep into attached as it became something akin to a whip. 

Jacqueline began shouting orders that she was surprised her group could hear over the rest of the chaos surrounding them. Peach launched her whip forward, it snapped around one of the Beringal's back legs and went rigid, she yanked it forward with a lot more strength than would be expected with her lean frame but threw the Grimm upwards where Raymond javelined his spear up to it to nail it at the bottom of its chest armour. Peach pulled her whip downwards, slamming the Grimm back into the ground where Raymond's spear pieced upwards, dislodging and removing the armour that protected it; Jacqueline ran forward, skidding underneath it to slice its underbelly and weaken it further as Edward surged forward, piercing the Beringal's chest and setting the roaring beast aflame.

**~x~**

Emerald looked at Mercury, Robin and Pan, then the Deathstalker hissing at them; they'd been dodging its tail strikes for about five minutes as Emerald formulated a plan on how to beat it that wouldn't look too advanced for who were supposed to be students (couldn't have Robin and Pan suspecting them nor that pesky Professor Pearl). After she rolled away from another strike, she clapped her hands and charged back towards Mercury and the other two.

"Okay, Pan, I'm going to need you to get Robin up high and hold her there. You think you can do that?" She asked, looking at the floatable boy and the small Faunus girl, "and when I say the word, Robin, I'm going to need you to fire the most accurate shot into the Deathstalker's head okay?"

Both students nodded, Robin notched an arrow as Pan wrapped his arms around her calves, hoisting her up so she sat on one of his shoulders with him steadying her as he took off into the sky; yes it may have been easier to just get him to send her up alone but then she may not be as steady as she would be this way and Pan would be in the way. Mercury didn't need much direction other than hit hard and in one spot before he was leaping around the Deathstalker and kicking his metallic heel into the centre of its head armour slowly cracking it enough for Emerald to slide forward, leap into the air and flip to shoot the centre of the cracks forming a hole.

"Now!"

A single arrow, so accurate it had to be aided by Robin's semblance, fired downwards, slipping through the hole in the Grimm's armour and slicing all the way through its head, sticking up from the grass beneath it as it dropped dead.

With their opponent done, Robin and Pan landed back on the ground to high five Emerald - Mercury gave one a little disgruntled - and they turned to the boys who's circling Nevermore had landed on the decaying roof of a building screeching at them. Emerald watched the Faunus boy laugh and whack his largest friend's shoulder; a few orders were yelled and the blond hit his fists together, glowing shadows of himself flying forward to grab the Nevermore's legs. The blue and red haired boys ran forward when the Nevermore was securely held down, they stabbed their bladed weapons into its feet to pin it to the rooftop without the help of the Faunus' shadows. The largest boy crouched down, a green force trickling down to his legs; with a strong shockwave, he leapt off the ground and decapitated the bird Grimm, landing on the other side of the building and dusting off his trousers.

**~x~**

Penny looked around the area, her friends had their weapons out and the Geist tower stood before them, stone arms ready to crush them if their reflexes weren't fast enough. She released four of her swords, running back towards a dried up fountain and jumping inside, turning her feet to metal and digging herself into the stone, turning the rest of her legs to metal to give her a strong base and shooting the four swords forward, they wrapped around the tower once before digging into the back of it and holding it in place.

"Alright boys, your guns aren't going to be any good against stone so I need you two to destroy the top of the tower with your aura. When you've done that the Geist should come out and Neo can take it out when you two go down, you trust me right?" She shouted, eyes scanning the other fights occurring before finding her partner's and best friend's.

They both nodded, Neo running back towards her so that she wasn't caught up it the boys' fight to the point where she was too distracted to take out the Geist before it could possess anything else. Roman and Ren put their guns away, shaking out their wrists and looking at each other in some silent plan they'd concocted to go along with Penny's; with the tower held in place, the Geist could only throw its rock arms forward, the boys jumping up and running up the arms. They put a good amount of aura into their legs so that they could jump from the top of the arms and crash through the top of the tower to take the whole thing down from the inside; it was clear the Geist was trying to fight them, throwing its own arms into itself and attempting to twist out of Penny's steel grip. Two strong bursts of stone came from the top and bottom of the tower, Roman had taken out the bottom, sending the structure tumbling and stones scattering as Ren took out the top and dislodged the Geist from its possession. At seeing the spirit Grimm, Neo flew forward, taking out a thin sword from her parasol and striking the Grimm through its singular eye. It dissipated.

All of the groups converge on the fallen tower, stones moving as the boys pull themselves out of the rubble, clearly exhausted from using most of their aura. Ren had a couple bruises on his hands and Roman just looked exhausted, a long-haired blonde girl who introduced herself as Pearl helped keep Roman steady since they were the same height and Sage joined her on his other side, Sun and Neptune keeping Ren's smaller frame up as they all sighed in complete relief, heading back to the cliffside.

 

* * *

Everyone was gathered in the main hall like they had the morning before; Professor Pearl could hardly believe the amount that had happened in the span of a day, but she'd witnessed the makings of amazing Huntsman and was interested to see what could come from the teams she had created. Now it was just time to share the news with the anxiously waiting students and teachers in the hall. She sucked in a breath quietly, connecting her scroll to the large screen hanging above her as she called out the first students.

"Jacquline Spriggins, Peach Almond, Raymond Marigold, and Edward Cedar. You four collected the Ace Cards which is why you are now Team SPRC (Spruce) led by Jacqueline Spriggins." She watched the new leader smile rather proudly, the crowd cheering as the team left the stage to sit back down together.

"Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, Robin Cedar, and Peter Darling. You four collected the Jack Cards which makes you Team EMRD (Emerald) led by Emerald Sustrai." The crowd cheered again, Mr Darling punching Miss Sustrai in the shoulder as they left the stage.

"Sun Wukong, Scarlet David, Sage Ayana, and Neptune Versilias. You collected the four King Cards, you have formed Team SSSN (Sun) led by Sun Wukong." Pearl took a step to the side with a small smile as the boys tackled their new leader as they left.

And now the team she was exceptionally excited to announce, "Penny Polendina, Lie Ren, Neopolitan, and Roman Torchwick. The four of you collected the Queen Cards, you are now Team PRNT (Print) led by Penny Polendina." She gasped happily, her tail wagging in excitement as her friends smiled at her too. 

The rest of the teams flew by and soon the students were off to their given dorm rooms. They had the weekend to settle in and then classes begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been thinking about who would voice each of my OCs and I think I've picked some pretty great people:  
> Jacqueline: Mariel Salcedo  
> Peach: Ellie Main  
> Raymon: Alfredo Diaz  
> Edward: Jon Risinger  
> Robin: Millie Ramsey  
> Pan: Trevor Collins  
> Professor Pearl: Griffon Ramsey

**Author's Note:**

> Pasts are extremely vague at the moment but I will build upon them no matter how slowly x3
> 
> I have no idea what the actual school of Haven looks like so I decided to let the reader picture what they want and wait for the actual show to present it (ya, I'm lazy, I know).  
> Personally, I see it as something of a similar structure to Beacon with parts of its own culture thrown in and with very autumn oriented colours.
> 
> And yes! Roman and Neo are 17 in this fic and they do have 'replacements' back in Vale. As you can tell, I altered Torchwick's weapon, I did that because I wanted it to somewhat fit with a younger, happier version of him whilst still keeping some form of his original weapon, I hope that's okay with you readers.


End file.
